For my Civic Issues blog, I’m going to delve into the many forms of discrimination and the effects it has on people.
We will be starting off with microaggressions, which are a subdued and unconscious form of discrimination. Microaggressions are often unrecognized by the perpetrator and the victim. This is dangerous because it furthers the perpetrator’s inability to recognize their own biases as well as the victim’s inability to recognize that they have been berated.
According to an article by the American Psychology Association, social psychologists Dr. Jack Dovidio from Yale University and Dr. Samuel L. Gaertner from the University of Delaware have conducted several studies that display well mannered white people, who have insisted equality, have unconscious biases towards other white people. When given two candidates where the only difference between them is that one is white and one is black, white people tend to favor the white candidate over the black candidate. Even though the white person in a hiring position would choose differently if the black candidate was more qualified, the notion that they would choose the white candidate when the applications are equal signifies the unconscious bias despite intentional agreement to equality.
Unconscious biases are the foundation of microaggressions. Instead of direct and outward prejudices for or against groups, it is subtle discriminatory action that continues to belittle and disadvantage people.
According to psychologist Dr. Derald Wing Sue from Columbia University, there are three main types of microaggressions: microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations. None of the actions are physically harmful for the individual, but are done with the intention to mentally and emotionally disparage minorities. Microassaults are deliberate demonstrations of prejudice, such as displaying a swastika. Microinsults are communications degrading the worth or ability of minorities, like asking a person of color how they got into a specialized program, suggesting that they were accepted from affirmative action. Microinvalidations are communications that exclude or undermine the experience of a minority, such as asking a person of color where they are from to perpetuate that they are a foreigner.
Due to the more subtle nature of microinsults and microinvalidations, Dr. Sue focuses more on those. He states
“While the person may feel insulted, she is not sure exactly why, and the perpetrator doesn’t acknowledge that anything has happened because he is not aware he has been offensive.”
Microaggressions are dangerous because they have the ability to undermine the intentions and experiences of the perpetrator and the victim. Because microaggressions often seem innocent at the surface-level, the perpetrator and the victim are unaware that an act of discrimination was just performed. Verbal communication that seems harmless or simply out of curiosity can have harmful effects on minority individuals, invalidating their abilities and experience solely for being a minority. Since microaggressions often go undetected, perpetrators may continue to perform subtle discriminatory acts unintentionally and victims are left feeling belittled and negated.
Although it is easier said than done, recognizing microaggressions, whether you are the victim or perpetrator, is important to prevent unconscious biases from being acted upon in the future.
January 21, 2023 at 8:47 pm
Love that you’re talking about this! I agree that microaggressions can become very harmful, even when we don’t recognize it is even happening. It can cause people to overthink and become anxious over the smallest comments, and I agree that it can really damages one’s mental health. It’s a shame that people usually tend to focus on more obvious, outward aggression rather than these subtle ones, which can definitely become even more detrimental to individuals in the long run. This is a great start to your civic issues blog, and I’m excited to hear more about what you have to say!
January 23, 2023 at 4:24 pm
This is such an important topic to bring attention to! Mentioning that this often happens unconsciously and is an effect of unconscious biases is great information that leads to mindfulness which is everything when working towards preventing microaggressions. Great post, I can’t wait to see what other forms of discrimination you write about.